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Jharkhand High Court
Rekha Devi vs The State Of Jharkhand & Ors. ... ... ... on 19 March, 2026
Author: Sujit Narayan Prasad
Bench: Sujit Narayan Prasad, Sanjay Prasad
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
W.P.(Cr.) (HB) No. 3909 of 2026
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Rekha Devi ... ... Petitioner
Versus
The State of Jharkhand & Ors. ... ... O.P(s).
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CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUJIT NARAYAN PRASAD
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY PRASAD
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For the Petitioner(s) : Mr. Vincent Rohit Marki, Advocate;
Mr. Shaantanu Gupta, Advocate;
Ms. Ritul Nanda, Advocate
For the O.P(s) : Mr. Jayant Franklin Toppo, GA-V
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th
Order No.04/Dated: 19 March, 2026
1. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has submitted that
defects were to be removed but as per the office note dated 28th
February, 2026 the same could not be removed.
2. The learned counsel has further submitted that typed copy shall be
filed in course of the day.
3. The matter was heard on 27.2.2026 and following order was passed.
"02/Dated: 27th February, 2026
1. The instant writ petition is filed under Article 226 of the
Constitution of India seeking direction upon the respondent to
trace, recover and produce the detenu/missing Pushpa Kumari, the
daughter of the writ petitioner.
2. This Court, considering the submissions made by the petitioner,
thought it proper to get interaction with the Superintendent of
Police of the concerned district, i.e., of Bokaro.
3. Therefore, Mr. Jayant Franklin Toppo, learned counsel appearing
for the State, is directed to ask the Superintendent of Police, Bokaro
to join the Court proceedings through virtual mode, for which, the
link has been provided by the Court Master.
4. The Superintendent of Police, Bokaro has appeared through virtual
mode and has stated that all the sincere endeavours are being taken
and in order t6o have the authentic clue, the decision has been taken to
have the narco test on one suspect.
5. Further, he has assured this Court that he will take all sincere
endeavours to trace out the girl and whatever he has stated today
regarding the progress in the investigation, will be brought on record
by way of an affidavit.
6. List this case on 19th March, 2026 with the update of the tracing out of
the victim.
7. In the meantime, let the defect(s) be removed."
4. The counter-affidavit has been filed which is drafted on the basis of
the investigation said to be carried out and the statement made therein
is based upon the recording of the statement as referred in the case
diary.
5. At paragraph no.12 of the counter-affidavit it is stated that Sanha in
this matter was registered on 24.7.2025 on the request of the
petitioner as she was not willing to make public the news of her
missing daughter.
6. The present writ petition has been filed on 16.2.2026 but there is no
progress in the investigation in view of the FIR which was lodged on
04.08.2026.
7. This Court is very much astonished that when the Sanha was
accepted on 24.7.2025 was it available for the police not to register
an FIR on the basis of the request made by the informant.
8. The Superintendent of Police, Bokaro is to explain as to why the
Sanha which was instituted on 24.7.2025 then why the FIR was
lodged after delay of ten days, i.e., on 4.8.2026.
9. In various paragraphs of the counter-affidavit reference has been
made regarding the investigation being carried out.
10.In paragraph no.21 while making reference of the statement recorded
in paragraph Nos. 140 and 141 of the case diary, one Dinesh Mahto
has been referred as an accused who was brought to the police station
and his statement was recorded and also his mobile number was
seized and sent for determining CDR and tower location on the date
of the commission of crime. The missing poster has also been
displayed in the public places.
11.It has also been stated that the report has also been sent regarding
missing of the daughter of the petitioner to the State Crime Records
Bureau and NCRB, ZIPNET even to the CBI for finding any clue of
the missing girl.
12.The statement recorded at paragraph no. 23 of the counter-affidavit
shows that the district police at Bokaro is helpless and that is the
reason communication has been made to the CBI for finding any clue
regarding the missing girl. Further it appears from paragraph no. 25
that one person, namely, Loknath Mahto has made a forged call to
the mother of the missing girl regarding her presence in Pune.
Thereafter the police has inquired from him and has found that he
was a drunken person who has made false call to the writ petitioner.
The reference of issuance of hue and cry notice has also been made
by the Pune Police as referred in paragraph no.27.
13.This Court is of the view that in the entirety of the statements inter
alia made in the counter-affidavit, particularly, the fact about
reporting to the CBI for finding any clue and issuance of hue and cry
notice by Pune Police which is suggestive of the fact that the Bokaro
Police has also come to the view that the case requires inter-state
investigation.
14.Since it is a case of missing of a girl and even after lapse of
substantial period no clue has been found by the Bokaro Police, this
Court thinks why the matter be not handed over to the CBI.
15.This matter is adjourned to be listed tomorrow, i.e., 20.3.2026
purposely because granting more time will jeopardize the life of the
corpus of the writ petitioner, since inaction may cause danger to the
life of the corpus.
.
(Sujit Narayan Prasad, J.)
(Sanjay Prasad, J.)
Date: 19th March, 2026
KNR/
Uploaded On: 19.3.2026
